Friday, December 22, 2006

I forgot to mention another complicating factor in my having two apartments: I still don't have a key to the new one. When I finally do, I'll be sure post some pictures from it. It was originally designed for three teachers to share, so has some interesting features such as three toilets in the bathroom and three sinks, and also a sink in each of the three balconies. Unfortunately for me, one of the three bedrooms will be locked and used for storage. I don't really need three bedrooms, but I was thinking of using the third as a tea room, free from the electronic distractions that, while fun, prevent me from doing any of the things I want to do, like study Chinese and read Argentine short stories.

Today's the winter solstice and it is Chinese tradition to eat 饺子(jiaozi), an excellent kind of dumpling. I'd never eaten dumplings in the US, and while I'd heard the word I probably could not have drawn a picture of one. Here, however, I've been fortunate enough to eat many, and they sure are good. The ones I had for lunch today were filled with tofu and turnip, which probably doesn't sound too appetizing, but I assure you they are pure deliciousness. You usually dip them in a mixture of vinegar, garlic oil, and hot sauce. They are also eaten to celebrate the Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival, at which time families will make them together, sort of like making Christmas cookies. Hopefully I'll learn how to do so so I can make you some when I get back. Until then, you can eat cookies and I'll eat 饺子.

I'm currently the proud tenant of two half apartments. My apartment here has all the things one would want out of an apartment (tv, computer, bed, wardrobe, cooking utensils, washing machine, water cooler) but only 1 chair to sit on, and the new apartment has plenty of things to sit on and the guest bed, but nothing to do. I'm hoping that I'll be able to read and study more there without the ever-distracting internet begging for my attention. We'll see if that's true or not once I get the key sometime next week. In the meantime, though, I'll have to adapt my life to only having one chair, which, since I live alone, isn't usually too bad, but when guests come over things could get interesting.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

I've been pretty busy with class and trying to speak Chinese as much as possible, so as you can probably imagine, my apartment is not the most organized. Unfortunately, I was just told now that tomorrow morning while I'm teaching they're going to move most of my apartment to the new campus. I've been wanting to move, yes, but I was hoping to at least be around when it happened. They're going to let me keep a bed and kitchen here so that I can spend the Spring Festival here instead of at the deserted new campus, so right now I have to move everything I want to keep here into my bedroom which I'll lock before I go tomorrow so they don't move/steal things I don't want moved/stolen. Good thing I just drank about 10 itty bitty cups of tea, but I can only hope that it doesn't keep me up too late since I do have to get on the bus tomorrow before 6:50 AM.

Oh, I almost forgot to post a translation of that Chinese poem, so here it is:

I slept without realizing the Spring dawn had come,Everywhere around me I heard bird song.Oh what a sound of wind and rain last night ---How many blossoms had fallen?

It's not my translation, but it's the best one I could find online. In Spanish, my translation would be

Monday, December 11, 2006

Apologies for the delay in writing to you all - I'm pretty busy teaching at the moment (20 hours the past few weeks) and when I'm not doing that, I'm trying my best to speak in Chinese, leaving me little time for reading or any other kind of relaxing, and unfortunately writing here has slipped through the cracks. That's probably a good sign, though, that this world is starting to feel less foreign and I've found ways to spend my time.

What have I been doing, then? Looking back, it's hard to stay. I've been spending most of my time teaching, preparing to teach, and going to and fro from the new campus. Word on the street is that next week I'll be moving, but that's yet to be confirmed, mostly because the new apartment isn't ready yet - it's still being painted and decorated and otherwise equipped. I'm looking forward to moving, if only to eliminate the commute and allow me to spend more time with my students. Right now, I pretty much can only speak with them in English, since that's my job, but if I could see them more outside of class I'd have another opportunity to pretend I can speak Chinese.

I got a package in the mail the other day containing two of my two most missed goodies: Reese's cups and cheese. Thanks for that - it was much appreciated, and the few people I've shared the Reese's with have been quite impressed.

Last Friday evening I went to the new campus to help some of my students host an English party. It was a bit disorganized and not really effective at getting anyone to speak English, but it did seem enjoyable, and motivation is of course an important part of language learning. The highlight for most of the students was me reciting a Chinese poem to someone's four-year-old boy I was holding in my arms, and him then repeating it back into the microphone. Here's the poem for those who may be interested:

春眠不觉晓，处处闻啼鸟。夜来风雨声，花落知多少。

There isn't much else new here, but if you're curious about something, just leave a question as a comment and I'll gladly reply. For now I need to get some rest to make it through the long day of studying and teaching tomorrow.